This year’s Hanukkah hit: Maccabeats’ ‘Miracle’

Modern-day Hanukkah music began to come into its own last year with a breakout, catchy, absolutely-viral hit by the Maccabeats, an Orthodox Jewish a cappella group, and the first Hanukkah song by well-known reggae-rapper Matisyahu.

Now, the Maccabeats are singing Matisyahu’s song, “Miracle,” in their latest installment of fun holiday music that focuses on Jewish teachings, but also has non-Jewish audiences singing along.

Noah Jacobson, the glasses-clad crooner in the group, was raised at Young Israel of Houston and joined the Maccabeats as a student at Yeshiva University.

After their Hanukkah song “Dynamite” jumped to 4 million YouTube views in about a month last year, Jacobson called their success “the biggest thing to ever happen in Orthodox Jewish music for sure.”

The group, he said, sees how popular music and their melodic explanations of holiday themes can get people into the Hanukkah spirit.

“I think in some way we were given an opportunity to do something and affect people in a deeply spiritual way,” said Jacobson, a tenor.

And because all religious groups seem to be getting “hipper” these days, the Religion News Service declared that it’s young, hip Jews who are leading this musical makeover.

From the story:

“It can be difficult to be a Jew on Christmas,” (Maccabeats director Immanuel Shalev) said. “And when you have something to rally around as a Jew, it can be really exciting.”

That happened on national television in 1994, (Jewish music expert Mark) Kligman said, when comedian Adam Sandler sang “The Hanukkah Song” on “Saturday Night Live,” listing celebrities that many people didn’t know were Jewish.

Emerging Jewish groups today can thank Sandler, Kligman said.

“That really carved out a space for people to be excited and to celebrate being Jewish,” he said. “It used to be that you were proud to be Jewish, but you kept it in your back pocket.”

It’s a great song! Coincidentally, I just recorded it with accompaniment by the wonderful guitarist Andre Bush, releasing it not long before Matisyahu released his new versions this year. Check it out: